Current Affairs Updates- 1-15th November 2016

Dear Readers, Read Current Affairs of 1-15th November 2016 for upcoming RRB Mains, NIACL and Other exams.

1. The tenth edition of Indo-Nepal joint military exercise Surya Kiran commenced at Army Battle School, Saljhandi in Nepal. Its emphasis will be on counter terrorism in mountainous terrain. 2. Maharashtra has been ranked first state in the country in 2016 Agricultural Marketing and Farmer Friendly Reforms Index. 3. Senior Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer Sushil Chandra took over as chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) 4. Twitter India head Rishi Jaitly has quit the company after spending four years at the popular microblogging website. 5. DRDO and Associated Chambers of Commerce of India have inked a memorandum of understanding to facilitate the transfer of defence technology to Indian industry.6. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan declared Kerala as Open Defecation Free” (ODF) state. With this, Kerala became third state to achieve this status.7. Miroslav Klose, the all-time World Cup top-scorer, announced his retirement from football . Klose, 38, the leading scorer of Germany with 71 goals in 137 internationals.8. The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act, 2016, designed to curb black money and passed by parliament in August 2016, came into effect. 9. global professional network LinkedIn today said it has signed an agreement with the human resource development ministry to create more job opportunities for Indian students.10. ICICI Bank has launched a credit facility against home loans for salaried customers.11. The Union Ministry of Railways has appointed Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak (73), the founder of Sulabh International as a Brand Ambassador for Swachh Rail Mission of Indian Railway. 12. Indian shuttler Pratul Joshi has won the Bahrain International Challenge badminton tournament in the men’s singles category. It was his maiden international title.13. India born Sarabjit Singh Marwah has become the first Sikh to be appointed to the Canadian Senate (upper house). He was among six people from Ontario who have appointed to Senate by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. With this, he becomes the only Indian-origin member of the Canadian Senate. 14. India has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Palestine for setting up of Palestine-India Techo Park at Ramallah in Palestine. The decision to set up Techno Park was taken during the visit of President Pranab Mukherjee to Palestine in October 2015. 15. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Saur Sujala Yojana that would provide solar powered irrigation pumps to farmers at a subsidized price. 16. Legendary Sri Lankan singer and composer Pandit Amaradeva, recipient of many international honours including India’s Padma Shri award, for his contribution to music, died following a heart attack. He was 88.17. Google has tied up with Archaelogical Survey of India (ASI) for 360 degree virtual tour of 280-odd monuments across the country.18. Sanjiv Arora, an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, was on 31 October 2016 appointed as the Ambassador of India to the Republic of Lebanon by Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).19. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has completed the construction of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) after more than 20 years of work. 20. Paris Agreement to combat climate change officially entered into force after 55 parties to the convention accounting for at least 55% of total GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions ratified it. 21. Maharashtra has become the first state in the country to have a cyber-police station in each district to take on cyber criminals. In this regard, state government is converting 42 state-of-the-art cybercrime labs into cyber police stations simultaneously.

22. The first titanium project of India has started its test production Ganjam district of Odisha. The project has been established by Saraf Group. This is first of its kind titanium plant and the only one in the country.

23. Seventh century Chinese Buddhist pilgrim and scholar Xuan Zang (also spelled Hsuan Tsang) stayed a couple of years in Bezawada (the old name of Vijayawada) to copy and study Buddhist scriptures.

24. Veteran Bollywood actress and Rajya Sabha MP Rekha will be honoured by the upcoming Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

26. First World Tsunami Awareness Day was observed across the world on 5 November 2016. The theme for the year is Effective Education and Evacuation Drills.

27. The Union Government launched Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) to provide free health check-ups to pregnant women at government health centres and hospitals. The Scheme was launched by Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare J P Nadda in New Delhi.

28. Latvia has become the first country in the Baltic Sea area to sign a Memorandum of Understanding to link up with China’s One Belt and One Road (OBOR) Initiative.

29. The sunrise state Andhra Pradesh has been ranked number one in the World Bank’s ‘Energy Efficiency Implementation Readiness’.

30. Kamala Harris, California’s Attorney General, is on the cusp of becoming the first Indian-American Senator in the US Congress with latest polls placing her “far ahead” of her rival days before the November 8 general elections.

31. China has developed a high-speed, intelligent unmanned sea vessel which can be used for a host of applications, including submarine detection.

32. Indian Women’s hockey team has won the 2016 Asian Champions Trophy held in Singapore. It was the maiden win of Indian Women’s hockey team in Asian Champions Trophy.India defeated China by 2-1 goals.33. The Union Government launched Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) to provide free health check-ups to pregnant women at government health centres and hospitals.34. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to be the mascot of the ‘Incredible India’ campaign with the Tourism Ministry finally deciding to do away with plans to rope in any Bollywood stars, including Amitabh Bachchan, for the role which was lying vacant after the ouster of Aamir Khan earlier this year.35.The International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict was observed globally on 6 November 2016.36. Former Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma passed away on 3 November 2016 following a prolonged illness. He was 85. He is survived by six sons.
37. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first International Agro-biodiversity Congress in New Delhi.

38. Indian lawyer Aniruddha Rajput was on 4 November 2016 elected as a Member of International Law Commission (ILC), a top body of legal experts of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

39. The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has constituted a four-member team for conservation and management of Loktak Lake in Manipur.

40. Construction major Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) became India’s first firm to get debt recast under RBI’s new Scheme for Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets (S4A).

41. Guy Ryder has been re-elected Director-General of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) for another five-year term, starting October 1.

42. Bank of Baroda has appointed Ratnesh Kumar as Managing Director and CEO of its wholly-owned investment banking subsidiary, BoB Capital Markets Ltd.

44. Vinod Rai was appointed as the Chairman of Fund Trustee and Advisory Commission of Kerala.

45. Henri Kontinen and John Peers on 6 November 2016 won the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 team title at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris.

46. Republic’s Petra Kvitova on 6 November 2016 won the 2016 WTA Elite Singles Trophy. She defeated Ukrainian Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-2 to grab the title at Zhuhai, China.

47. NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) Mission on 5 November 2016 set the Guinness world record for highest altitude fix of a Global Positioning System (GPS) signal at 70000 kilometers above the surface of the Earth.

49. World first hydrogen-powered and zero-emission passenger train named as Coradia iLint was unveiled in Germany. The first of its kind ecofriendly train has been developed by French rail company Alstom. The Coradia iLint only emits excess steam and condensed water into the atmosphere.

50. As per recently released report, India has was ranked second in the global business optimism index during the third quarter (July-September 2016). It was revealed by the Grant Thornton International Business Report.

51. Billionaire-turned-politician Donald Trump has been elected the 45th President of the United States.

52. The Union Government has appointed Praveen Kumar Sharma as the Central Registrar (CR), Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Central Registry of Securitisation Asset Reconstruction and Security Interest of India (CERSAI).

53. President Pranab Mukherjee presented the Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE Awards to the children winning IGNITE competition at Rashtrapati Bhavan. This year, total 31 students were awarded for their ideas and innovations in the IGNITE competition organized by the National Innovation Foundation (NIF).

54. With her husband Donald Trump winning the US presidential polls, Melania Trump is set to become the first foreign-born First Lady of the US after Louisa Adams.

55. China’s Vice-Minister for Public Security was elected the President of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol).

56. Pramila Jayapal became the first Indian-American woman to be elected to the U.S. House of 2. Representative. She won the Senate seat from state of Washington.

57. The World Science Day for Peace and Development 2016 was observed on 10 November 2016 across the world. The theme for 2016 is Celebrating Science Centres and Science Museums.

58.The Union Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) on 9 November 2016 launched the Pradhan Mantri YUVA Yojana to boost up an ecosystem of entrepreneurship for young people.

59. The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has launched Healthy India Initiative magazine and No More Tension mobile App. It was launched by Union Health Minister J P Nadda for promotion of health and to strengthen the health communications programmes.

60.After years of negotiations, India and Japan have signed a bilateral Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement on 11 November, 2016. With this, India has become the first non-NPT country with which Japan has signed a Civil Nuclear Agreement.

61. Poland-born art critic Marta Jakimowicz was on 10 November 2016 selected for the Lifetime Achievement Award 2016 by the Karnataka Lalithakala Academy.

62. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) was selected as the host the 2018 International Competition Network (ICN) in New Delhi in March–April 2018.

63. The 2016 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum’s Leaders Summit will be held in Lima, Peru from November 19 to 20, 2016. The theme of the summit is “Quality Growth and Human Development” and the official logo is the architecture of the ancient city of Caral.

64. Sanjay Vijayakumar, Chairman of Startup Village, has been appointed Advisor and Mentor by the Uttar Pradesh government for its newly unveiled IT and Startup Policy 2016.

65. Nasdaq-listed Videocon d2h (Vd2h) will merge its operations with the largest Indian DTH player Dish TV, in an all-share deal to form the leading distribution platform.

66. China launched a pulsar test satellite XPNAV-1 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China. The satellite was carried by a Long March-11 rocket.

67. Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa, survived yet another no confidence vote in the parliament. The country’s ruling party, African National Congress (ANC) voted against opposition’s motion demanding for Zuma’s removal.

72. Narinder Batra today became the first Indian to be elected the President of the International Hockey Federation after he was voted to the top post by an overwhelming margin during the penultimate day of the 45th FIH Congress

73. Indian Navy Sailing Vessel (INSV) Mhadei with an all-women crew was flagged off from Goa to Cape Town, South Africa.

74. United Nations in a statement said that the tennis star Maria Sharapova will once again be its goodwill ambassador. She will be re-appointed as UN Goodwill ambassador after her doping ban expires in April 2017 and she returns to international tennis competition.

75. Australia will host the 2018 Invictus Games for wounded military personnel, Britain's Prince Harry announced.

79. With more than 200 films under his belt spanning a 56-year career, Jackie Chan has finally received an Oscar.The 62-year-old action star was awarded an honorary Oscar at the Eighth Annual Governors Awards at the Hollywood and Highland Center in Los Angeles.

80. Federal Bank has received Reserve Bank of India (RBI)'s permission to open its first international branch at the Dubai International Financial Centre.

81. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin arrived here this morning on an eight-day visit to India to further strengthen bilateral ties.

82. Private sector lender YES Bank said it has appointed Amresh Acharya as Group President and Head of Global Indian Banking. Acharya will report to Senior Group President, Retail and Business Banking Pralay Mondal.

83. India has been ranked 138th in the 2016 ICT Development Index out of a total of 175 countries. In 2015, India ranked 135th position.

84. The 2016 International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women was observed across the world on 25 November 2016. The theme for the day is “Orange the World - raise funds to end violence against women”.

85. Noted journalist and former Editor-in-Chief of the ‘Times of India’, Dilip Padgaonkar passed away on 25 November 2016, following a heart attack and multi-organ failure. He was 72.

86. Juan Manuel Santos, President of Colombia, and Rodrigo Londono, the leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), signed a new peace agreement .

87. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the year 2016 was the warmest year on record globally.

88. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has formed Special Task Force to speed up the process of recalibration of automated teller machines (ATM) to dispense the new denomination notes. The Special Task Force will be headed by S.S Mundra, Deputy Governor, RBI.

89. International Master Padmini Rout has won the 2016 National Women Premier Chess Championship. With this win, she has scored a hat-trick in the National Women Premier Chess Championship.

91. Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Ltd (a wholly owned subsidiary of . Ujjivan Financial Services Ltd) has got the final licence from the Reserve Bank of India to undertake small finance bank (SFB) business in India.

92. The government today decided to declare an NGO promoted by controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik as an outlawed organisation under the anti-terror law for five years for its alleged terror activities.